APBP is pleased to share that Adam Wood from Toole Design Group has been elected to serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors starting in January 2025.

Adam is an Active Transportation Plan Practice Lead with Toole Design Group in Silver Spring, Maryland. In this role he advances the state of goal-oriented, data-driven bike and pedestrian planning. Adam has expertise in helping communities change their transportation paradigms, enhancing livability and advancing equity. He has created active transportation and Complete Streets plans for a diverse array of communities and agencies across North America, from platinum-level bicycle-friendly cities to communities embarking on their very first efforts to enhance their streets for everyone. Adam excels at translating community values into actionable policy and program strategies; crafting Complete Streets policies and implementation plans; and planning local, regional, and statewide bicycle and pedestrian transportation systems.

Adam and his family live in Madison, WI where they enjoy walking, biking, and being outdoors.

Welcome to the APBP Board of Directors, Adam!

The APBP Policy Committee regularly reviews and updates our statements. The original policy statement on Electric Bicycles was published in January 2019. This revision was approved by the Board of Directors in December 2023 and can be found here.

It is APBP’s position that:

1. E-bikes have the potential to unlock significant latent demand for cycling and should be considered an integral part of a more sustainable transportation strategy in the U.S. and Canada.
2. The U.S. and Canada should take legislative action at the federal level to better define e-bikes, create more uniformity in regulations, reduce regulatory burdens, and increase uptake of e-bikes across North America. In Canada, a harmonized legislative framework for e-bikes should be a national priority and the efficacy of devolving e-bike regulation to provinces should be subject to a full regulatory impact statement.
3. Further research and technical evaluation of the safety risks associated with e-bikes travelling at higher speeds is urgently needed. If sufficient evidence exists of a higher level of risk exposure arising from e-bikes with more powerful motors, then governments must act in the public interest to reduce risk through effective regulation of e-bike speed and/or motor power.
4. Further study of the interaction of e-bike riders, non-motorized bicyclists, and pedestrians is needed, particularly as it relates to existing and planned shared infrastructure such as sidewalks and shared use paths.
5. Widespread adoption of e-bikes has the potential to make a lasting and positive impact on major public health challenges, including diabetes and obesity across the continent.
6. Greater attention to the enforceability of e-bike legislation and regulation is needed, as is greater focus on the educational needs stemming from increasing e-bike adoption.
7. E-bikes have the potential to lower barriers to cycling for people with different transportation and physical activity needs, including people whose commute trip exceeds 15 to 18 minutes, and people who are reluctant or unable to use non-motorized bicycles due to the physical demands, but have the ability to handle an e-bike.

Read the full APBP Policy Statement on Electric Bicycles. Additional policy statements from APBP can be found here.

The APBP Policy Committee regularly reviews and updates our statements. The original policy statement on Automated Driving Systems was published in April 2018 with a first revision published in June 2019. This updated version of the policy statement can be found here.

Vision:
To ensure automated vehicle operations meet our shared goals for safe, efficient, and equitable transportation, vehicles with automated driving systems should meet or exceed core driving competencies of a human operator and all requirements of local, state, and national vehicle and transportation codes while consistently and safety operating around all roadway users, especially pedestrians, bicyclists, or other vulnerable road users.

Position:
APBP believes automated vehicles represent an emerging technology that carries great potential for both positive and negative outcomes and must be primarily designed and operated to ensure functional safety for all people using streets and highways. Beyond the specific responsibilities of AV manufacturers, APBP believes that an integrated safety management system must be put in place to properly collect, monitor, disseminate (in real-time where required and where appropriate) anonymized safety data from AVs and from other roadway, government, and user data sources. The anonymized data collected should be aggregated and shared with governmental agencies responsible for planning, building, operating, and maintaining transportation and safety systems.

Vehicles’ Automated Driving Systems (ADSs) must readily detect and protect all vulnerable road users including those walking, bicycling, and using a mobility device– regardless of age, race, ability, location, time of day, and other factors – from serious injury or death.

Read the full APBP Policy Statement on Automated Driving Systems. Additional policy statements from APBP can be found here.

The Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals (APBP) identifies reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a critical measure in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the transportation sector and the effects of climate change.

APBP believes that policies to make the use of active modes safer, easier, and more comfortable, or to promote the use of active modes, play a key role in shifting mode use away from passenger vehicles. While these policies have a quantifiable and positive effect to reduce GHG emissions, they are most effective when combined with direct disincentives for automobile use, such as charging the market rate cost for traffic congestion or vehicle parking and eliminating vehicular parking minimums or implementing vehicular parking maximums.

APBP supports policymakers to consider measures from a variety of spheres (e.g. land use policies, increasing access to bicycles and e-bikes through bikeshare programs and financial incentives, equitable roadway pricing strategies, etc.), a combination of measures both infrastructure and non-infrastructure, and level of scale (i.e. individual parcel level, corridor-level, or community–wide) in order to implement programs that will yield meaningful changes in VMT reduction.

Read the full APBP Policy Statement on Carbon Neutrality and VMT Reduction.

Contact: Lauren Santangelo, Executive Director
859-402-9819
[email protected]

LEXINGTON, KY -- The Association of Pedestrian & Bicycle Professionals (APBP) announces the winners of its annual awards program to honor excellence in the profession. Four Professional of the Year awards and the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award were presented during the final day of APBP’s Conference in Minneapolis, MN on August 24.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has made a substantial commitment to the profession during their lifetime and who has shown excellence in the field of bicycle and pedestrian planning, design, advocacy, and/or education. The award distinguishes those whose vision and determination have made their communities better places to bike and walk and who inspire others. The 2022 APBP Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Susan Sauvé, Transportation Demand Management Planner for the City of Peterborough.

Through her selfless, collaborative nature, Sue has built a community of people around her, magnifying the impact of her efforts far beyond what any single person can do. She is a known collaborator - truly motivated to work alongside other staff departments, consultants, agencies, organizations, and residents to deliver the best outcomes for people walking and cycling. Through her passion and perseverance, Sue has transformed the way it is possible to travel in Peterborough. Her work will impact the community for decades to come!

The APBP Professional of the Year Awards recognize the achievements of pedestrian and bicycle professionals made in the last twelve months in the private, public, research, and nonprofit sectors and one young professional under the age of 30.

Laura Sandt, Director of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, UNC Highway Safety Research Center, receives the 2022 APBP Research Professional of the Year Award. Laura’s impressive background as an epidemiologist lends immense value to her perspective and ability as a transportation safety researcher. She leads a diverse portfolio of research projects with a focus on safety, mobility, and access for people who walk, bike, and roll of all ages and abilities. Laura encourages the uptake of research to practice by leading opportunities for knowledge exchange, as well as interfacing directly with leaders in multidisciplinary fields and informing adoption and implementation of ideas.

Darnel Harris, Executive Director of Our Greenway Conservancy is awarded the 2022 Nonprofit Professional of the Year Award. Darnel is a determined, resilient, forthright advocate and leader of social justice, equity, and equal opportunity for underprivileged and underserved racialized communities. For more than a decade, Darnel has been in the forefront of advocating for proper sustainable micromobility, cycling advocacy and the development of the cycle industry in North America as a whole. His ethical standard has forged bridges with important actors including major industrial investors, researchers, not-for-profit leaders, entrepreneurs, and cooperative leaders in the micromobility industry in Mexico, Canada, USA, and Europe.

Hannah Pritchard, Principal Pedestrian and Bicycle Engineer for the Minnesota Department of Transportation is awarded the 2022 Public Sector Professional of the Year Award. Hannah is a public sector professional with the unique skill of translating the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists to and between planners, engineers, and advocates. She understands the strategic steps necessary to design transportation facilities to meet the needs of people walking and biking. Her involvement within national guidance for pedestrian and bicycle facility design has strengthened MnDOT’s facility design guidance and has brought it into a new era. Hannah’s work has pushed the agency to figure out ways that all users of the transportation system can coexist, thus improving mobility for all people.

Austin Taylor, Redevelopment Agency Project Manager with the Salt Lake City Corporation, is named APBP’s 2022 Young Professional of the Year. In his work as a transportation planner at Park City Municipal Corporation, Austin empowered historically excluded communities to carry out tactical urbanism projects to reshape their neighborhood streets. Austin works closely with community residents, helping the public gain trust in transportation professionals. Outside of his work in municipal government, Austin spends free time advancing active transportation as Executive Director (now board member) of BikeWalk Provo, a nonprofit advocacy organization.

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APBP is a community of practitioners working to create more walkable, bikeable places. We foster peer knowledge sharing, advance technical expertise, and support the professional development of our members. We offer multiple membership levels, and more information can be found at apbp.org.

APBP submitted written testimony for the Maryland SAFE Roads Act (HB0656) which is one of the top two active transportation bills (along with HB0254) in the 2022 Maryland General Assembly session.  Written testimony would urge Environment and Transportation Committee members for favorable consideration of House Bill 656.

Bill Highlights - Safe Access for All (SAFE) Roads Act of 2022 requires MDOT State Highway Administration to:

1. Conduct an analysis of high pedestrian and bike injury corridors/ intersections and identify engineering improvements to address identified threats; publish the results by July 2023

• HB0656 Vulnerable Road User (VRU) assessment is consistent with federal law; specifically, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) SEC. 11111. HIGHWAY SAFETY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM, subsection 16 VRU Safety Assessment.

2. Provide specified minimum annual funding levels in budget areas involving pedestrian and bicycle safety

• SAFE Roads Act specified funding is a small fraction of the increased funding Maryland is expected to receive of the $4.6 billion over five years ($992 million per year) in IIJA Federal highway formula funding for highways and bridges. On an average annual basis, this is about 35.9% more than the State’s Federal-aid highway formula funding (USDOT  MAC Conduit Street Blog)

3. Review outstanding and upcoming preservation and maintenance projects for opportunities to implement Context Driven Design Elements and FHA Proven Safety Countermeasures

4. When implementing new safe infrastructure and engineering improvements that will take more than 12 months to complete, implement near-term, incremental improvements which enhance safety in the interim.

APBP, the Center for Disability Rights (CDR), The Daniel Initiative (TDI), and 43 civil and human rights groups have written a sign-on letter encouraging Congress to move and pass legislation that addresses the lack of law enforcement accountability in the harm and killing of people and in particular Black people in this country. While this letter is not specific to traffic enforcement, it does align with APBP's Equity and Traffic Enforcement policy statement.

Click here to read the full sign-on letter.